River Road to New Orleans March 19, 2012

Ah, what a wonderful sleep I had - nearly 10 hours. I guess I was tired.  So, refreshed and after a breakfast of omelet and ham, off we went to Houmas House, our first plantation.

What an absolutely grand place!  Fortunately, we made it with five minutes to spare before the first tour of the day.  Our tour guide, Judy Davis, was wonderful.

She "made" the tour.  Judy was filled with so much history and since our group was small, she even stopped and played the old piano and sang.  What a voice!  Here are some shots of the interior of Houmas House.

This is an original Comfort Tiffany lamp that the owner of Houmas House has in his private office / bedroom.

Like many plantation owners in days of yore, he lives in New Orleans as well.

The grounds of Houmas House are filled with old oak trees, one of which is estimated to be 600 years old.

There is also a lovely pond and other water features.

After the tour, Vicki and I crossed River Road and climbed the levee to see the Mighty Mississippi.  I think it was misnamed.  It should be the Muddy Mississippi.  I don't think I've ever seen such a brown river before.

Then I made Vicki pose in this gorgeous bush.

We spoke with two nice ladies in the gift store who told us about Laura Plantation which is just beyond Oak Alley on River Road downriver.  We stopped at Oak Alley as they advised the oaks were the attraction, but the tour wasn't as good as Houmas House.

Just down the road is Laura Plantation and we stopped.  Our tour guide was Joey, another really good guide with tons of Laura knowledge.

Houmas House was a much grander plantation, but Laura Plantation had a more interesting history due to "Laura" and her ancestors.

Here are some of the slaves quarters and other buildings on the Plantation.

We highly recommend Laura Plantation if you're ever in the area.

We got to New Orleans precisely at the 4:00 check-in time.  We're at the French Quarter Landmark Hotel, a Best Western property.  It's on Rampart Street across from Louis Armstrong Park and within walking distance of pretty much everything we wanted to do.  After unpacking, we headed out for a pre-dinner walk.  The architecture is just amazing here.

We stopped in a few galleries, check out some stores and ended up at Orleans Grapevine for dinner.  We ate in the courtyard which was filled with flowers, herbs and twinkling lights.  So charming.  A lovely martini was enjoyed by moi!  The rib-eye steak is mine and the double-cut pork chop is Vicki's.  Both were polished off by each of us, and very delicious.

Our waiter, Devin Gribbons, is an aspiring writer originally from Boston.  Adorable, fun, enthusiastic - all the stuff twenty-somethings are filled with.  Oops, I ended a sentence with a preposition.  Oh, well - he won't see this.

Bourbon Street called, so we did some more walking.  We ran into a very sweet family from Warsaw, Poland who'd just gotten married.  Chris is originally from Michigan but went to Poland seven years ago to teach English and he met Asia and the rest is history.  Alexy was who drew me to them.  He's a real charmer.

After the requisite hurricane at Pat O'Brien's and lots of people watching, it was time to turn in.  We enjoyed the evening but to me, and I think Vicki, Bourbon Street is a one time thing.

Tune in again for more.